Many differing devices are developed yearly to improve and make more convenient the use of liquids such as cleaning agents, lubricants, moisteners, beauty aids such as perfumes, fragrant waters, and other substances which can be stored or held in a container and sprayed in a mist or aerosol form. Pressurized containers with their necessary gaseous agents, which are sometimes environmentally unfriendly, have in some measure lost ground to conventional spray bottles producing an “atomized” mist.
One of the challenges for consumers, which is sometimes addressed by product manufacturers, is the amount of liquid left inside the spray bottle when the source or feed tube cannot efficiently reach the last fraction of liquid. That fraction is essentially unavailable to the user, which is especially frustrating when the remaining liquid is needed for the current purpose. Moreover, if the near empty bottle is discarded, product is wasted. For the value-conscious consumer, a primary alternative is to wait until a new bottle of product is obtained at which point the remaining fraction from the old bottle is added to the new bottle so that effectively no product is wasted.
In the case where a spray bottle is low on product, the spray delivered from the nozzle may often times contain too much air resulting in a less than desired amount of product delivered out the nozzle. Some manufacturers have attempted to solve this problem by providing longer source or feed tubes to try to extract as much product as possible, thereby minimizing waste. Other manufacturers have even produced bottles with small pumps run by batteries, with the object of using as much product as possible, thereby minimizing waste. The problems with such an approach are multiple. For example, the cost of the container may be higher, thereby increasing the consumer's product cost. Additionally, utilizing the pump solution may introduce environmentally unfriendly batteries to the waste stream. This trade off may or may not be balanced by the reduction of product which enters the municipal waste stream.
What is needed is a spray bottle designed to allow the maximum amount of product to be used without increasing cost or necessitating the use of components potentially harmful to the environment when discarded.
Another problem associated with the use of atomizing or spray bottles is the need to keep the bottle substantially upright when in use. Because of natural gravitational forces, liquid seeks to find its own level. Without pressurizing a spray or atomizing bottle, the same forces affect the performance of such devices. Therefore, if the user desires to hold the bottle in one position where the level of the bottle inhibits the ability of the feed or source tube to draw liquid uninhibited, then poor delivery of product results. This is particularly true when the volume of product in the bottle is at or below approximately 50%. At this point, the bottle must be kept substantially upright in order for the suction tube to continue to feed product to the spray nozzle. Once the suction tube draws a sufficient amount of air, the bottle then must be returned to the upright position and the trigger squeezed continually to draw a sufficient amount of product into the suction tube to feed the nozzle. Most consumers have experienced the frustration associated with this condition when trying to deliver product only to be annoyed by the constant interruption of product flow and having to re-position the spray bottle and continually squeeze the trigger to continue with the desired operation—a very inefficient way to apply product to the desired target or surface.
What is needed then is a spray bottle which is not inhibited by the gravitational forces which move the liquid level as the position of the spray bottle is changed.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.